Amazon Launches Movie Studio, Wants User-Generated Content

If you’ve ever dreamed of movie screenwriting stardom but never quite known where to start, Amazon.com may be the place to go. The internet giant is branching out into movie production by launching Amazon Studios, a new user-controlled content generator and developer that aims to reward new filmmakers and screenwriters in addition to turning the company into the next Disney.

The site will invite filmmakers and writers to submit material every month that will then be entered into a poll wherein, at the end of each month, the most popular test film and two most popular scripts will be awarded cash prizes, with the chance of even more if they should also win a year-end poll. Each entry automatically becomes optioned by Amazon Studios for 18 months, and should any entry get turned into a finished movie, the creator will get $200,000, with a further $400,000 bonus available should the movie make enough money at the box office. (More on Techland:Amazon App Store and Android Tablet in the Works?)

Amazon is taking the move seriously; in addition to setting up a first-look deal with Warner Bros, they’ve also built a board of industry insiders (including veteran screenwriters from Top Gun and Tomb Raider, as well as a former President of Miramax Studios and professors from the USC School of Cinematic Arts) to help decide which movies may have potential to be hits.